This has been a very special month for me with two additional events. First, at KM UK 2010, I received a "Lifetime achievement award for services to KM" from the Ark Group as part of their inaugural KMUK Awards 2010.
and second, Inside Knowledge have taken some of my best Gurteen Perspective articles and re-published them as a special Inside Knowledge supplement in the form of a commemorative compilation of my "10 years in KM". You can read more about both these events below.

In reality, I have been in KM a tad longer but my the first issue of my knowledge letter was published 30th May 2000 and my website went live the year before in August 1999. So give or take, I have been pretty much focused on KM for ten years and plan to be for many more years to come!

KM is not going away despite all the doom mongers. Its name may change, its tools and methodologies may change but the issues it tackles at the individual, business and societal levels - making better sense of this world, improving our decision making and responding more innovatively to the problems and challenges we face will never go away.

I have been writing and publishing this newsletter for ten years and there are now 17,000 or more readers in something like 160 countries - having grown from an initial circulation of about 300 in May 2000
I don't think that's too bad for one man but it's a drop in the ocean compared to the number of people on the web.

I receive frequent votes of thanks and complements and many of you have been readers for several years. Some of you for the full ten years!
And I would love is to significantly expand the readership. So here is the favour I ask.

At KM UK 2010, I was delighted to receive a "Lifetime achievement award for services to KM" from the Ark Group as part of their inaugural KMUK Awards 2010.
This is what the judges said about me (blush!)

We wanted to recognise David's 10 years of achievement in KM and to celebrate him as a thought leader in collaboration, through techniques such as his knowledge cafe concept. An excellent manager and willing sharer of his own personal knowledge, David has been instrumental in showing KM managers what social media can do for them.

I was in good company with Dave Snowden winning the award for "Best advance of KM as a scientific discipline"; Nick Davies for "Best KM presentation at an Ark conference"; ERM for "Best KM initiative or implementation in a professional services firm"; the Welsh Assembly Government for "Best KM initiative or implementation in a government organisation" and Pfizer for "Best KM initiative or implementation in a corporate enterprise".

I am delighted that Inside Knowledge have taken some of my best Gurteen Perspective articles and re-published them as a special Inside Knowlede supplement in the form of a commemorative compilation of my "10 years in KM".

Better still, as a member of my community, if you would like a hard-copy please e-mail Kate Clifton at kclifton@waterlow.com with 10 Years in KM copy request as the subject line along with your full name and postal address in the email body and they will send you a free copy. Note: if you already subscribe to Inside Knowledge then you will receive this supplement automatically and do not need to request it.

I would like to give a great big thank you to Inside Knowledge and especially to Kate Clifton for all her hard work in putting this together and helping to make "my ten years in KM" something special. Thank you!

The traditional way of thinking in business is that if some change is implemented you need to add measures and rewards/punishments associated with that change. You force people into the change, willingly or not. This can't work with the culture that needs to exist for Enterprise 2.0 to work. This has to be a culture of working together because we want to, particularly when it comes to using the tools. Forcing me to "share knowledge" doesn't even make sense. Neither does "you must ask for help."

We are discovering in this new realm that public exposure is not just a matter of egotism or idle voyeurism. This past year, several friends of mine have blogged their way through their battles with cancer. By taking their ordeal to the valley, they got valuable advice from strangers who posted comments and helped form an online support group — and an archive that could help future patients who happen upon it via cancer-related queries on Google. One of my friends -- writer Jeff Jarvis, now happily in good health -- talks about his experience as a lesson in the virtues of publicness. The Constitution may not contain an explicit reference to the right to privacy, but the notion that privacy is worth cherishing and protecting needs little justification. What Jarvis suggests is that the opposite condition needs its defenders: oversharing, in a strange way, can turn out to be a civic good.

As you know, I am often quoted as an example of a good knowledge sharer. There is not a lot I won't talk about in this newsletter, blog or website but I do tend to keep my intimate personal life to myself - no problem talking about my family etc but would I, could I, say talk about a battle with a serious illness? I am not so sure. But the above gives good reason to be more open and more public in our most intimate thoughts and private lives. Worth reflecting on :-)

Education has to some degree lost its way; forgotten its identity. We've allowed ourselves and our institutions to be led away from our core value of openness -- away from generosity, sharing, and giving, and toward selfishness, concealment, and withholding. To the degree that we have deserted openness, learning has suffered.

We've been blessed with incredible technical capabilities in our day. Will we use them to increase the openness, generosity, and sharing of our institutions? Or will we use them perversely, against their own potential, to further close, conceal, and withhold?

I get several emails a week asking for help in some form or another. Often its a very specific question that I can answer in a sentence or two. But more often than not - its a broad, generalised, conceptual question that cannot be answered easily and even if it could I suspect it would be of litte value. Here are some examples:

Could you tell me all there is to know about KM?

How do I create a knowledge driven culture in my organisation?

How do I implement KM?

Could you give me a few tips and pointers on change management?

How do I roll out communities of practice?

How do I demonstrate the benefits of KM?

How do I measure the ROI of KM?

How do I make everyone in my organization share all their knowledge?

What are the best exit interview techniques?

When I get these type of questions I am concerned. I am concerned that I am talking to someone who has not the slightest clue of what KM is about. Its not the question itself or the knowledge they are seeking but the fact that they think I can effectively answer the question they pose.

Look at the questions above. What is missing? Yes the businesss context! None of them tell me anything about their organization or what they are trying to achieve for the business. And you know what when I ask they rarely can tell me!

This section highlights some of the major KM events taking place around the world in the coming months and ones in which I am actively involved. You will find a full list on my website where you can also subscribe to both regional e-mail alerts and RSS feeds which will keep you informed of new and upcoming events.

You may subscribe to this newsletter on my website. Or if you no longer wish to receive this newsletter or if you wish to modify your e-mail address or make other changes to your membership profile then please go
to this page on my website.

The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter is a free monthly e-mail based KM newsletter for Knowledge Workers. Its purpose is to help you better manage your knowledge and to stimulate thought and interest in such subjects as Knowledge Management, Learning, Creativity and the effective use of Internet technology. Archive copies are held on-line where you can register to receive the newsletter.

You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to friends, colleagues or customers, so long as any use is not for resale or profit and I am attributed. And if you have any queries please contact me.

David GURTEEN
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom

If you are interested in Knowledge Management, the
Knowledge Café
Knowledge Café
or the role of conversation in organizational life then you my be interested in this online book I am writing on
Conversational Leadership

David Gurteen

I help people to share their knowledge; to learn from each other; to innovate and to work together effectively to make a difference!

The Gurteen Knowledge Community is a global learning community
of over 21,000 people in 160 countries across the world.

The community is for people who are committed to making a difference:
people who wish to share and learn from each other and who strive to see
the world differently, think differently and act differently.